Vanessa-Mae's pre-Winter Olympics scores rigged, say Sochi officials

Four Slovenian ski officials have been suspended after being accused of rigging the qualifying results for violinist Vanessa-Mae.

The musician competed at the Sochi Winter Olympics as Vanessa Vanakorn for Thailand, finishing in last place out of 67 competitors.

Charles Krupa/AP

Before the event, she competed in races in Sweden, Norway, Slovenia and Switzerland. The Slovenian Ski Association has said that it had found evidence showing that its races were "fixed at the behest of Thai ski officials to meet her qualifying criteria for Sochi".

Slovenian association president Jurij Zurej said that there may have been falsified times and rankings.

"The starting list included a person who did not even compete, a racer who fell was registered as finishing high in the standings," Zurej said. "In addition, the dates of the competitions did not match the actual state when the races were held."

Mike Egerton

Zurej added that the violinist may not have been aware about the alleged rigged results.

Vanessa-Mae finished her Sochi race with a time of three minutes, 26.97 seconds, 50.1 seconds slower than winner Tina Maze of Slovenia.

"The Olympics is like the greatest show on earth, and to just share the same snow, to be able to slide down the same snow that the elite skiers carve down is just an honour and a privilege," she said at the time.

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